The recession in the U.S. economy has resulted in more foreclosures than experienced by any other generation of Americans. Yet as always, this challenge has given rise to a huge new opportunity for alert real estate investors.
The new opportunity is known as ‘Bulk REO Investing’ or ‘REO Package Investing’ and it’s a huge opportunity.
Consider with me, if you will, the fundamentals of the Bulk REO business.
Understanding the notion of Bulk REO’s requires understanding of the foreclosure process.
As a borrower becomes increasingly behind in his mortgage, the lender regularly calls and writes the borrower with default warnings and threats. The lender directs the subsequent timing of the actual foreclosure proceedings. Between the formal beginning of the foreclosure process and the public auction is the ‘preforeclosure’ period.
When a defaulted property is placed up for auction, the foreclosure process is completed. If there are no buyers at the foreclosure auction, the lender regains title to the property. The designation of ‘REO’ (Real Estate Owned) is then attached to the foreclosed property.
Lenders have no interest in owning property, and thus usually opt to list their REO properties with a local real estate broker in hopes of a retail sale. Yet with increasing frequency, REO properties are being sold for pennies or dimes on the dollar. Lenders are willing to do so in exchange for the buyer’s agreement to purchase a ‘package’ of REO’s rather than a single property.
Qualified real estate investors are increasingly finding once-in-a-lifetime opportunities in these REO packages. Bulk REO Investors are most successful when they have a well-established source of funding for their REO packages. Some sources of funding for these transactions are: personal funds, hard money lenders, commercial lenders and non-conventional sources such as private investors and hedge funds. Additionally, one man is becoming very well known in the field of bulk REO investing, and his name is Sal Bushemi of Dandrew Capital Partners, a New-York based hedge fund.
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